I haven’t been writing lately, or posting at all. I have this thing called “Writer’s Block.” I’d like to say that I’m uninspired or not feeling creative, but that simply isn’t true. Lately, the creative juices are flowing and I can hardly stop the ideas from coming before I finish the project I’m currently working on. Whether its my new custom stitch markers (coming to a NatInDesign store near you), custom knitting needles (these make knitting sexy), or ideas for a possible business (sadly lacking capital to make those dreams come true); I am all over the board where creativity is concerned. I suppose I didn’t know how to make this burst of creativity fit aggirl.com.
I feel that I am is all over the place lately and that is A-okay. Aggirl.com doesn’t need to have a purpose or direction, it has a voice; my voice and my direction. I AM aggirl.com and if I’m a hot mess, then the blog will be also. I started this blog with the intention that it be about agriculture, but agriculture isn’t my life (*gasp*). In truth, the “ag” in aggirl is just a fraction of who I am. So, for now I’m a mess, I have the 1000 pieces of my life in a pile on the floor and I’m trying to fit together the puzzle that is me without having the benefit of working from the picture on the box.
In the spirit of putting together my puzzle, I want to step outside my box of crazy and I want to see what you, the reader sees. I want to know this: What do you, the reader, want to know about me, the blogger?
Some of you may know me better than others and any topic big or small is fair game. Nothing is too personal or too trivial. Help me break my writer’s block, give me topics to write about that you want to read about.
As incentive I’m going to do a giveaway (oh snap!) I made these awesome felted soaps yesterday. 
The soap is from a local shop Body Basics (go local business) owned by CC’s current lessor Cecelia. She is also the person who taught me how to felt soaps! These are my first creations (see so much creativity flowing out of me), and I’m giving both away. As I come up with awesome things, I’ll be adding to the giveaway list (such as custom knitting needles and stitch markers).
How to win!
This is clearly the most important part. Leave a me a comment telling me what you want me to write about. It can be personal, it can be political, it can be agriculture related, it can be about my favorite TV shows; nothing is too personal and nothing is off limits. Comment with a blog idea and let me know if you’re a knitter (I don’t want needles and stitch markers going to someone who doesn’t knit and therefore not have a use for them). I’ll draw for the winner next Thursday
This last week is what I would call… shitty. It started out with the promise of a new job and other great life changing things and ended with a whole bunch of rejection.
On Thursday I had my much anticipated interview with SmartPak Equine. I woke up early, got ready for my interview which lasted about 30 minutes on the phone. I thought I did well! I was confident in my answers, I felt completely qualified for the position with limited training. I was ready for a new adventure. Not even 24 hours later at 8:08 EST I received a rejection email stating that SmartPak was looking at other candidates because even though my experience and educated was “impressive” they didn’t feel it matched the position. I politely emailed back and asked what I could work on for the future, if anything in particular prevented me from going further in the interview process. The response was:
We evaluate candidates on their equine hands-on experience and knowledge, customer service and sales background, office experience and professionalism and overall personal demeanor.
After spending countless hours researching the company policies from recycling to charity to employee benefits and being rejected because apparently someone took offense to my existence is a leaving me very disappointed. Especially, since they couldn’t even give me the courtesy of telling me what exactly I did wrong. I have the qualifications and more than enough experience to hit the ground running. SmartPak just missed out on the best employee they will never have.
Friday I got sick. Throat hurting, nasal congestion, I have no voice sick. Sunday, I was dumped. TRIFECTA!
So what am I doing about it? Selling family heirlooms and furniture to make sure my horses get fed and new shoes this month. And paying pesky things like my student loan and credit car ($150 over limit I might add).
Excuse the tone of this entry, but I’m 10 lbs of angry and disappointed in a 5lb sack.
Jobs I’ve Applied to in the last 2 weeks: (P.S. Way too lazy to link to the jobs)
Update: Bunny died 
- Last night, barely moving or breathing.
This morning, breathing evenly, more movement.
Still hasn't eaten or drunk water, but doing much better.
As a woman and a supporter of agriculture I find that I’m a minority in my political views, so I try and keep them off of “public” forums. To any of you that follow @aggirl86 on twitter might discover I lean left, but not much else, to those of you that follow this blog you might discover the same, but I try and keep politics out of my public published life. For those of you on my Facebook, you know differently, same with my “personal” twitter @apha4me.
I describe myself as moderate because I have views not in the middle but polarized to the far right and far left which, I believe, puts me in the middle. Even as a registered Democrat voter, sometimes I vote Republican because I agree with the candidate on issues I deem important to me. However, with the impending 2012 elections looming, I look at the GOP and I cannot believe the circus. It’s disgraceful. Most of all, I cannot believe in 2012, nearly 100 years after the ratification of the 19th amendment Women’s Rights are once again on the table.
Amy Tan recently posted a statement on her facebook that I believe says everything I could say, but better, because she’s Amy Tan.
“To those who criticize my perversion of the GOP candidates’ names, please know that name-calling is not my usual standard of response. Nor do I normally use expletives. But I make exceptions. Never in my lifetime have I seen such a line-up of candidates who want to pervert the lives of women, who want to f**k them over every which way they can think of. These perverts are men, and variously they are telling us that single women should not have sex, should not use contraceptives, should consider a baby conceived from a rape to be a blessing, and to leave all matters concerning their uterus to them. They say that contraceptives for women make it too easy for them to “do things.” They do not offer the same opinions on men and their tendencies to “do things.” Their rhetoric makes it sound like women are wanton spirits who must be controlled. I am a writer because I have strong opinions. Those opinions on women’s rights come from my grandmother, who was raped, and my mother, who was raped at gunpoint by her husband, and who was jailed when she ran away from him. My mother told me as a child and a grownup, that no one should ever tell me whether I should have a baby. How could I be any other kind of writer, any other kind of person? How could I not protest the perversion of women’s rights espouses by these candidates? The twisted names I give them may sound “hurtful” –as name-calling is. But the hurt they would give us would not be temporary slights, but permanent scars. This country is not divided because of Obama. It has been divided for a long time by the Republican Right who vote down the line on personal moral beliefs. They are out of touch with the the actual governance of this country and its relation to the larger world. Would these candidates cut off relations with China until China abolishes the one-child policy? I was born the daughter of a Baptist minister. I know how intractable religious beliefs are supposed to be, how by faith, you must carry those beliefs into the world, into all walks of life, without compromise, without listening to any other opinions. By that faith, you save who you can and smite who you can’t. To these GOP candidates who want to rule government by the divine guidance of their cocks, study the pages of history on the Inquisition and the Holocaust, and keep your hands off me, my nieces, my sisters, my women friends, their daughters and their daughters to come.”
Being a woman has never stopped me from doing anything I’ve ever wanted. But I was blessed to grow up in a world where my mother earned the majority of the family money. However, my mom has told me stories of the recent past where being a woman earned you pennies on the dollar and worse. In 1973 my mother and her best friend Barbara attempted to get a home loan to purchase their first house. They were denied because they were women and were told they should get married and have babies. 1973 was just over a decade before my birth. Some reading this probably remember 1973.
Forty years later, we are facing a future that makes 1973 look like a cake walk. Government wants to invade our bodies, mandatory invasive ultrasounds, lack of birth control, and the dissolution of women’s healthcare. Why aren’t more women outraged that these are even topics of discussion?! It’s baffling to me. I do not understand why this is ok. I do not understand how any woman can agree or support these issues.
I for one, am for women. I have a plethora of strong women I’ve been blessed to know in my life. Some I’m related to, some are friends, some I know in person, some I know only via the Internet. All are educated, strong, intelligent, compassionate people and I will fight this war for them. I will fight, I will not be silenced.
This.is.war.
*Update: For those of you that have reached the end of this post and are thinking “It’s just the Liberal Agenda,” or “The War On Women is fiction,” here is an article by Huffington Post 10 Reasons Why The Rest Of the World Thinks The US Is Nuts. I think I’m going to have to follow this blog post with another subject I rarely post about, which is Why I’m Not Patriotic. I have a love/hate relationship with America.
Girls just wanna have fun!
I’ve never been one to be bitter about the economy or ungrateful for the life I’m living. However, Monday I was both.
I’m Swiss. For me this is an identity. In encompasses who I am and the way I was raised. Though I can trace my maternal grandfather’s roots back before the revolutionary war, I’m not a Patriotic person, that however, is a story for another day. My maternal grandfather, or Opapa as he was known to the younger generations, was an Italian American. He served in the first World War, became an American Diplomat and married a Swiss woman. He died before I was born but his younger brother I knew and loved as “Uncle Rudolph.”
My first trip to Europe and Switzerland I was about 2, I have vague memories of that trip, but I continued to see my European family every other year until I was 16. After that, 9/11 happened, the economy tanked, and this country just went down the toilet. My parents got divorced, I graduated from high school and the purse strings got tighter and tighter and tighter. Vehicles were sold, horses were sold, recreational vehicles were sold, and plane tickets to see family were out of the question. It was okay though, everyone was suffering, everyone was paying their dues, eventually I’d see my family again.
My cousin is getting married in September, and I thought this was a perfect opportunity to scrimp, save, and hoard money for one last trip to Europe to see the eldest generation. I was wrong. I’m bitter and I’m angry. I love my family and it irritates me that my family has sacrificed so much and rolled with the punches and I was unable to see my Uncle one last time. The generations are moving up the ladder and it’s difficult to think in a modern world with new technology an email or a skype chat is the closest I can be to family far away.
My great uncle was a wonderful man. He was generous, kind, and gentle. I will always remember sitting in the library, sipping a ginger ale conversing with my Aunt Jackie and Uncle Rudolph, in the Wohlen House.
For those of you unfamiliar with Gibbs’ story start here.
Gibbs BEFORE
Gibbs CURRENT
How is Gibbs doing? He’s is fantastic he’s put on weight, you can still see his ribs a little bit, but you have to really be looking for them. If you run your hand down his side they are still very obvious. Ideally, I’d love to put another 50 lbs on him. I like to keep older horses on the chubby side of healthy, it just gives them a extra oomph should anything happen, they get sick etc. So far my plan has worked for Bandit, my mom’s 31(!) year old cutting horse.
Where is Gibbs? Gibbs and CC are now at my house. My trainer Pam and I had differing opinions on who should benefit from my horses. She wanted to use them for her gain while putting nothing into them. But it works out because Gibbs and CC are now in green pastures and sunshine and this life seems to agree with Gibbs.
Is Gibbs leased right now? Nope, no he is not and I foolishly did not take “may not be sold or leased” out of the adoption contract so for now he’s my trail horse/pasture ornament. CC however, is leased and I’m giving lessons on him to another prospective lessor.
So life is sunflowers, puppies, and candy now right? Wrong. I have absolutely zero source of income right now except for my etsy store which can be found here. Why is this a problem? My credit card is maxed out thanks to the Gibbisaurus and I have a whole $4 in my checking account. I used the last of my hay this morning and Gibbs is out of joint supplement and my cell phone bill was due on the 25th of Feb.
Oh no that’s terrible how can I help? That is a wonderful question!
- Gibbs gets a monthly SmartPak shipment so SmartPak gift certificates are appreciated because his supplements (with added joint supp) are around $45 a month. SmartPak Gift Certificates can be ordered here my email is Swissgirldrivesatruck@gmail.com.
- Buy something from my etsy store. All proceeds at this time are going to feed Gibbs and keep me from doing a swan dive off my second story porch (not really about that second part, but it’s an entertaining thought)
- Donate! No guarantee ALL money will be going to Gibbs, but in the end that’s where most of it goes anyway (This is why I can’t have nice things!).
- Host a Help #GibbsTheHorse Donation button on your blog or website
- Give me some work to do! I’m capable of writing, creative graphics etc. Any type of work that I can do long distance I can do!
I’m a Taurus, a steadfast loyal creature of habit. I go to bed around the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning. I’m a “nester.” I believe in making spaces my own and nothing throws me off more than sterile rooms and waking up at the wrong time or other variations from the routine.
Which is why just as I seem to get comfortable in a routine life throws me a curve ball. This past week I got a few really awesome curve balls right to the head.
First, was a surprisingly good opportunity. In October, I decided there wasn’t any reason at all why I couldn’t find my dream job. So I went directly to the source and applied for positions at SmartPak, Ariat, and other equine related companies. No matter what position I applied to at SmartPak my resume seemed to be bounced back within moments of submission, telling me I wasn’t using the right format, keywords, or other criteria and the system was rejecting it. So I called HR <<< Me being proactive. Damnit I deserve good things! I spoke with someone in HR who looked over my resume, suggested some changes and passed it on. Next thing I know, I was asked if I was able to do a phone interview. Um, yes. OF COURSE I’m able to do a phone interview. It’s scheduled for March 22. (Prayers, good/positive thoughts, Interpretive dances and other forms of luck accepted at this time). SmartPak is of course, based in Massachusetts and I’m a California girl. I’d be moving 3000+ miles away from the only home I’ve ever known, away from my horses, friends, and glorious sunshine, to an expensive area near Cape Cod and Boston where I don’t know anyone, it gets really cold in the winter, and it snows. Of course I’ve never wanted anything more in my entire life (except to win the lotto and start a horse rescue… that’s still #1). Off I went researching the area, tax rates, living situations etc. I believe in being informed. I also believe in seeing myself where I want to be. So, I now see myself in Plymouth, MA in a studio apartment with my dog dressed in everything I own because it’s effin’ cold and snowing. Life make that happen please. Positive thinking like this often leads to disappointment as my visions often go up in smoke, but it only takes once for it to work. I’m still hopeful.
The second curve ball was less awesome. My trainer of 10+ years and I had a disagreement about what should happen with my horses. She wanted to use them for her clients and if her clients didn’t want them I should find people to lease them who wanted to be her clients. Basically, she wanted to use my awesome well trained horses for her gain which meant, I was still paying most of their expenses and unable to ride them at all. Say what? I don’t think so. I told her I felt bullied (which I did, I think those types of power moves are bullying at its finest), and she asked me to GTFO of her barn. At which point Gibbs’ former owner tried to reclaim him (Um what?). Saturday was stressful to say the least. However, I know have CC leased (from my house now), and I can see both horses out my window when I wake up in the morning.
Moral of the story: Change is good and everything happens for a reason. It’s uncomfortable, it’s scary, you never know if you’ll come out on top or hanging onto the edge of a cliff with your fingernails, but in the end what’s meant to be is.
Gibbs and CC
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